Newsletter

Commissioners pull plug on speed cameras at local schools

Lubbock County’s commissioners moved quickly Monday, March 24, to spike rumors that traffic enforcement cameras might make a comeback outside some Lubbock County schools.

The commission voted unanimously to not consider a proposal to purchase the cameras.

At one point, the discussion among the four commissioners seemed more about where the idea had started.

Commissioner Bill McCay said he’d spoken with officials from several different school districts and they all said they’d had no interest in the idea.

Commissioner Lorenzo “Bubba” Sedeno led the charge, calling the idea a “false guise of public safety to make money.”

Estimates have circulated in local media that the cameras could pull in as much as $18 million in fines from violators.

Sedeno said after the meeting that while the enforcement cameras would be a real money maker for the county, the revenues would decline rapidly once motorists became aware of where the cameras were.

Unlike the city’s venture into red light cameras in 2008, the cameras mentioned on Monday’s agenda were to be used to spot speeders in school zones.

The city of Lubbock experimented with cameras to catch red light runners for about six months, with installations at 12 intersections.

In that case, data provided by the vendor, American Traffic Solutions of Scottsdale, Ariz., indicated the number of red light violations decreased in the six months the cameras were in place, but rear-end wrecks increased in the city at the same time.

“It’s been a hot issue for Lubbock County and the city of Lubbock,” Sedeno said, adding he’d asked that the matter be placed on the agenda so it could be discussed publicly.

Sedeno said he’d received calls from constituents who were opposed to the idea.

“I believe cameras are a poor substitute for uniformed police officers, and the school districts already have those,” he added.